St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-25

SDGCllN6
NE see if l can en-
tighten the readers of the GLOBE Oh the
subject. PROBABLY had better start at
the beginning of my journey from Kali
amazoO the latter part of June, 1S49, en-
route to st, Paul. New Buffalo was the
next stopping place, where our party
took the steamer for Chicago. Upon
arriving at that point, however, the
cholera was raging, and we
fastened onward to Milwaukee.
A circus was in town the day that we ar
rived, and the entire population, 600 IN
number, turned out in honor of the
event. After enjoying the festivities
incident to the occasion we took a
private conveyance to Madison, and
thence to Prairie du Chen. Here we
waited a week for the steamer High
land Mary, upon which we embarked,
and our next stopping place was La
Crosse. There were but two houses III
this place, one of which was occupied
by an Indian trader named Levi, and
the other by an Alsatian widow. Both
came aboard our steamer with view to
going to st. Paul to be married, and
thew accomplished their mission and re-
turned to La Crosse to the traders house.
From the time we left Iowa until st.
Paul was reached there was but one
house seen on the western bank of the
Mississippi and that was the property
of trader called Bully Wells. who was
murdered by the Sioux Indians some
time in 1862 Finally, three weeks
after leaving Kalamazoo, st. Paul was
reached and the steamers landing was
at the foot of Jackson street, and l re-
member that we assembled Hight OF
wooden steps to reach the roadway.
There were no frame houses visible,
but a few log ShantieS occupied by
Indian traders
AND SOME OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
1.-The population of the capital of MIN
nesota comprised at that period 800
souls, including half-breeds and tran
sient travellers. Tamarack logs were
the material used in the construction Of
the Merchants hotel. Forty acres OF
what is now the principal business
portion of st. Paul were laid out and
plated, but there had been no attempt
made to arrange streets. Subsequently
100 acres west of WabaSha street were
plated. and these were soon utilized as
the residence portion of the city. My
impression is that the frame cottage
which | built on Third street upon a
portion of the site now occupied by the
Metropolitan hotel was the first house
of the kind completed in st. Paul, al
though others were in course OF con-
StructiOn when mine was finished.
We moved in before it was completed
ana soon made ourselves comfortable.
Subsequently the house, which was one
and one-half stories high, was pur-
chased by the Widow Abbey and moved
upon Ramsey street, where 1t now
stands. My brother was my next door
neighbOr for time, his house being a
counterpart of mine, and it stood on the
corner of what are now Third and Wash
ingtOn streets. He left, however, be-
fore the winter of 1S49 set in, for Wash
ington, and Charles T. Tracy, a dry
goods merchant, who came up from st.
Louis, became the owner, and was for a
number of years my nearest neighbOr.
''Gov. Ramsey, at the head of the terri
tOrial government, with other officials,
| arrived in st. Paul short time before l
did, but was stopping at the residence OF
Gen. Sibley, in Mendoza. Afterwards he
built house on Third street where
Burkhard's gun store is now located,
and lived in it for number of years.
INDIANS SWARMED IN THE STREETS,
and from our house we could look across
the river to where the Sioux were en-
camped. They were all friendly, how
ever, and from them we derived a sup
ply of game for the table. Fresh meat
was furnished by trader living near
| Saltwater, who made weekly trips to
supply the demands of his customers.
"ChriStmaS day, 1S49, we had an old
| fashioned dinner at our new house, but
| turkey was conspicuous by its absence,
| instead of which we had an abundant
supply of venisOn. Besides my own
| family, those who sat at the table that
| day were the family of Mr.. Tracy; John
| Uaney, Jr., clerk in the traders store
and George L. Becker, the present ware
house commissioner. Our eldest child
was baby then, having been born
| shortly after our arrival in st. Paul, and
she is now Mrs. Henry A. BOardman.
| While there was nothing elaborate
| about the menu, we had plenty of sub
| stantial food, but missed the turkey.
| Many of the houses built about that
| period had Shingle roofs, but the ma
| jority, | think, were matched. Our
| dinner was in the nature of house
warming, for we had just become set
| tied for the winter, and, with the eXcep-
ton of Mr.. Tracy'S, it was about four OF
the present blocks of st. Paul to the
next neighbours.
''St. Paul was very Sparsely settled at
that time, and where Splendidly paved
| streets now abound was then, instead, a
bowling wilderness, impenetrable al
most by the wild animals of this region.
There were no methods of tranSpOrta-
ton save by vehicles over rough wagon
roads, and they were few and far be-
tween, and a greater contrast between
that period and the st. Paul of to-day
cannot be imagined. West st. Paul was
not even dreamed of, and that section
| was dense growth of timber down to
the very edge of the Mississippi river,
and no one had attempted to penetrate
its Businesses, unless it might have been
some daring hunter, in quest of game,
which was very abundant"